Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton

Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton (March 1596-September 1652) was an English Cavalier general during the English Civil War.

Biography
Ralph Hopton was born in Witham, Somerset, England in March 1596, and he served under Frederick V of Palatinate during the Thirty Years' War and became a Lieutenant-Colonel in 1624. He was named a Knight of the Bath at King Charles I of England's coronation, and he served as an MP for Bath, Somerset, and Wells. While he was initially a supporter of Parliament, he came to support King Charles after voting for Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford's attainder, and, at the start of the First English Civil War, he rallied Cornwall to the royalist cause and then carried the war into Devon. After the May 1643 Battle of Stratton, he overran Devon, and he was wounded by the explosion of a power wagon at the Battle of Landsowne on 5 July. Shortly after, he was besieged at Devizes by his old friend William Waller, and he defended Devizes until he emerged victorious at the Battle of Roundway Down, after which he was made Baron Hopton of Stratton. Waller later launched a counterattack against Hopton and forced him to retreat to Winchester, where he was reinforced by Patrick Ruthven, 1st Earl of Forth. On 29 March 1644, he was defeated in the Battle of Cheriton, and he was again forced to retreat. After the 16 February 1646 Battle of Torrington, Hopton surrendered to Thomas Fairfax and attempted to convince the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands to rebel against the Parliamentarians. He died in exile at Bruges in 1652.